How to Convert Prospects into Qualified Leads and Sales
How to follow up with all of your prospects and follow them through sales cycle until they are ready to buy.
Once you have a visitors e-mail it is incumbent upon you to begin and develop a relationship with them over time. Regular e-mail communications will establish credibility and develop the relationships and trust you need to help them make a buying decision.
Auto responder (triggered) e-mail campaigns
Each time a new prospect gives you permission to e-mail them you should have a timed series of events to take place after that initial contact. This is your sales process. The late Cory Rudl, famed Internet marketer of InternetMarketingCenter.com suggested the best schedule is:
- Immediate response
- 3 day follow up
- 7 day follow up
- 2 week follow up
- 1 month follow up
- 2 months follow up
- 3 month follow up
Prospects rarely make a purchase on the first contact with any company. Conventional marketing wisdom says it takes 5 to 9 contacts or brand impressions before a prospect takes action. Systematizing your follow up sales process is key to increasing your sales. This is not easy – but you only have to do it once and put it on auto-pilot. It requires careful thinking, planning, writing and technology to implement this process. Agito provides it all – contact us.
Triggered Actions
The next level of automated follow up is to automatically trigger different responses, different e-mail tracks, or different content based on the prospects future actions or on what you already know about them.
A basic example would be to have one e-mail track going out before a prospect becomes a customer, and another track to be triggered after they have become a customer. Good e-mail marketing service providers can provide this functionality. Contact Agito for more information on how we can provide this for you.
Educational content
Use your triggered e-mail campaigns or regular campaigns to break down the features or benefits of your product or service over a series of messages. For complex offerings it is often much more feasible to educate your prospects in little bits over time. Consider a multi-part educational ‘course’ via e-mail as a special offer on your web site.
Special, limited time offers
Scarcity and time limited offers are proven direct marketing response drivers. Consider using these techniques in your triggered or regular campaigns. Consult with experienced direct marketers such as Agito to help plan these campaigns.
Lead qualification
If you have salespeople you’ll want to deliver them qualified leads, and get them speaking to your most qualified prospects first. Ask us about lead qualification via e-mail, engagement devices, web forms and special offers.
Regular Email Campaigns
After your triggered e-mail campaigns run out, you’ll want a way to stay top of mind with your entire prospect universe.
- Send regular e-mail newsletters (at least monthly) to keep your brand top of mind and drive traffic back to your web site and your sales people.
- Send new product or service announcements. Let your prospects know what is new with your organization.
Learn about outsourcing your e-mail marketing campaigns with our turnkey e-mail marketing serivces, or consider an e-mail marketing quickstart program if you'd just like to test the waters.
Web and e-Mail Analytics
Track all of your e-mail and web activity and measure it against pre-defined company benchmarks. The key to continued growth is constant improvement. Notice what works well and do more of it. Learn about our web analytics solutions.
